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Susan Bysiewicz, Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, listens to Michael Skrtic, owner of The Glass Source, in Seymour July 31, 2018.
SEYMOUR — Former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz stopped in downtown Seymour Tuesday (July 31) in an effort to lock up votes in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, saying that despite recent trends, the Valley will be a battleground in the Aug. 14 primary and beyond.
After stops at a number of Bank Street small businesses, Bysiewicz said it was good to see so many thriving small businesses because she has worked with many as a lawyer after leaving the Secretary of the State’s office in 2011.
“I’ve spent the past six years helping 80 small business getting access to capital so they can expand and create jobs, so it’s just nice to see such a vibrant street with lots of activity,” Bysiewicz said outside Haroula’s Coffee Shop after stops at The Glass Source, Wildflour Confections, Tea with Tracy, The Uncommon Peacock, and Tickled Pink.
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Bysiewicz trades business cards with Seymour resident Joseph Luciano outside Haroula’s Coffee Shop on Bank Street.
Bysiewicz was endorsed by Democratic leaders at the party’s convention in June, but is facing a primary challenge by Eva Bermudez Zimmerman, a labor organizer from Newtown who stumped in Ansonia last month.
The Republican candidates for lieutenant governor — state Sen. Joe Markley, New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart and Darien First Selectman Jayme Stevenson — are scheduled to debate Wednesday (Aug. 1) at NBC Connecticut in Hartford.
Bysiewicz and Bermudez Zimmerman are scheduled to debate Thursday (Aug. 2).
Issues-wise, the two candidates aren’t far apart. During an interview Tuesday Bysiewicz promoted many of the issues also championed by Bermudez Zimmerman, saying she supports strict enforcement of the state’s equal pay law, as well as paid family and medical leave, increasing minimum wage to $15 an hour, legalizing marijuana, and Medicare For All.
She said her candidacy is set apart by her prior work enacting and enforcing laws, a point she said she stresses in talking with voters.
“I’ve been mainly talking about what I bring, which is legislative experience from being a legislator, my statewide experience as Secretary of the State, and the work that I’ve been doing with small businesspeople,” she said.
On the campaign trail Bermudez Zimmerman has contrasted her background as an activist child of Puerto Rican parents with that of Bysiewicz, a graduate of Yale University and Duke Law School. A number of politicians have also mentioned a lack of diversity among the party’s endorsed candidates in endorsing Bermudez Zimmerman, whose candidacy grew after an outcry over the issue of diversity on the ticket.
Asked to respond to the critique, Bysiewicz pointed to party-endorsed candidates like Denise Merrill, the current Secretary of the State, Shawn Wooden, an African-American former president of the Hartford City Council running for treasurer, Kevin Lembo, the state’s openly gay comptroller, and William Tong, who would be the first Asian-American on a statewide ticket in Connecticut.
Ultimately it will be up to voters, she said.
“We have a tremendous amount of diversity on both rows (of the ballot) and the great thing about primaries is that the voters get to pick, they get to look at the background and experience of each candidate and decide who would be the best person for the job,” she said.
Bysiewicz, who is running on a ticket with the party’s endorsed gubernatorial candidate, Ned Lamont, said she was campaigning in the Valley Tuesday because “We are trying to go to every town in the state, because every town is important.”
She said that will continue in November’s general election, even though the GOP has recently consolidated power locally.
Republicans now hold the chief elected official positions in Ansonia, Derby, Seymour, and Shelton, as well as majorities on municipal legislative boards.
Bysiewicz pointed to the campaign of Derby’s Kara Rochelle to win the state 104th District House of Representatives seat currently held by Linda Gentile, who is retiring this year.
“People like Kara Rochelle are working really hard, and I have my fingers crossed and I’ve been in close contact with her and have been listening to how she is door-knocking, and that’s the way that Linda Gentile was able to win and be successful for her tenure,” Bysiewicz said. “So I see that as a seat that we could possibly take back, Kara’s got a really good chance.”
Though the Valley went for President Donald Trump in the 2016 election — and Democratic Governor Dannel P. Malloy could be confused for Public Enemy No. 1 for Valley Indy Facebook commenters — she said the party shouldn’t write off any races.
Bysiewicz pointed to nearby Stratford, where a Democrat won a state House seat the party hadn’t won in more than four decades.
“The Valley’s going to be a battleground, I think, in the election,” she said.
